Lots of Nexus 6 owners on Google's Nexus forum are complaining that they haven't received Android 7 OTA, and those who identify seem to be mostly T-Mobile customers. I haven't received it or the November security patch. I did receive the November patch on my Pixel.

One of the forum "experts" theorized that T-Mobile has asked that delivery to its customers be held up while they investigate some problem with the cellular radio component of the OS update.

Hey everyone! We know software update waits are rough. I don't have any word on this, but I wanted to let you know that you can always consult the Software updates section of Support to see which devices have upcoming releases in the confirmed stage, in testing, or complete. The page mentions that manufacturers customize releases for TMO radios (among other things) - although I can't say for certain that's exactly what's happening right now with Nougat, it definitely is part of the process. For Nexus devices, it might be helpful to take a look here: Check & update your Android version - Nexus Help and click the drop-down next to "Nexus".

I don't know what either of those things imply about the Nexus 6 and T-Mobile.

One thing I should add though, is that if T-Mobile actually is holding up the Android 7 release because of concerns about the RF performance of the phone on the T-Mobile network, suggesting that people go here https://developers.google.com/android/ota to download and install the release themselves is probably a really bad idea.

Hi rbob. You're right, the Nexus 6 isn't on the list. But to be honest, I'm not sure if it will be - I linked to the page that I did because it says "Nexus devices get the latest version of Android directly from Google." It also explains that the time frame in which the updates are provided may differ depending on where you purchased the phone, and that there are different timelines for how long Nexus equipment continues to receive updates for software versions and security updates.

TL;DR: I wish I had a concrete answer for you - but since I don't, I wanted to at least offer the internal resources we've got and the external info I'm aware of. My link to the Google support page for Nexus was definitely not intended to encourage users to foray into the territory of completing the install themselves if that's not something they're comfortable with! I'm not sure what implications that could have on equipment functionality or warranties, so I'm shrinking into the wall at the thought of it.

As far as someone downloading the update file and installing it, that's ALWAYS been "at your own risk."

My concern is actually about T-Mobile's network. If the update is being held at T-Mobile's request until its compatibility with the network is verified, someone installing it on their own might introduce instability, or worse, to the network.

I'm pretty sure the 7.0 update will arrive one of these days, or maybe skip over to 7.1.1, which is about ready to hatch in a couple of weeks.

Heck, I didn't get the November security update 'til a few days ago.

In short, gripe about the delay, and I'll gripe with you, but until you know FOR SURE there's no problem with the network, DON'T install it yourself.

I appreciate your confirmation that the Nexus 6 is not on the list and that you have no insider information leading you to expect that it will be added to the list. In Google's product forums, I ran across a post that appears to be authoritative, explaining Google's updates process, outlining that Google will not upgrade phones via OTA from 6.0.1 to 7.0 until after the carrier has given Google technical acceptance for the radio portion of the update. (see Techno Bill's first response in this thread Google Groups). Putting those bits of information together, I came to my own conclusions:

It seems reasonable to assume that T-Mobile is not spending any resources to testing this upgrade, especially given the age of this phone model and the absence of recent software update information. I think that means only that no one at T-Mobile will put effort into testing a radio upgrade on a phone that is stable and is getting security patches. If the information I linked to above is correct, then the logical conclusion is that T-Mobile Nexus 6 customers have no assurance that we could receive an upgrade to Nougat as an OTA from Google.

The other subtlety I want to highlight is that we don't know the upgrade will introduce problems. How could we know if neither T-Mobile nor Google is testing the radio code for this phone with T-Mobile's network? Are there any field reports telling us about known defects in the radio code that comes with the 7.0 upgrade? Is there any chance T-Mobile would give Google the technical acceptance without devoting resources to the test effort?

Hey rbob and peterhanson - you inspired me to do some digging through the archives of our Software Update device pages, and lo & behold I found pages for completed updates from the Nexus 6 from last November. So I double checked and got confirmation that if we test an update for the Nexus 6, it will show up on the list of equipment on our software update page, even though ultimately Google pushes the update. I don't know when or if it will happen, but that's the space to watch.

peterhanson, to speak to your concern regarding upgrading manually - I totally don't know that it would introduce problems, and I also don't know that it wouldn't, so the best way to proceed is as rbob mentioned, at your own risk. Regarding the finer points of the "technical acceptance" process you're referencing from the thread you linked to - I don't have any word that this is how it works, though the link was definitely interesting! I'm sorry I can't shed any more light on it for you!

Just to throw a little more gas on the fire, there's been an official announcement from Dave Burke, VP of Engineering at Google, that the Nexus 6 is in line to get Android 7.1.1 (which also rolls in the December security update).